What Book Did The ALA Decide Was Even Racier Than 50 Shades of Grey?

By
Anna Breslaw

Apr 16, 2013

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Every year, the American Library Association's list of "challenged" books — ones whose subject matter is controversial enough to faces opposition from parents, educators and other readers — never fails to shock, surprise and depress us. It usually includes a number of unspeakably classic must-reads, especially for junior high and high school students: Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, J.D. Salinger's Catcher In The Rye and Toni Morrison's Beloved, for instance.

Hate groups like the KKK are technically "allowed" to cite their First Amendment right to convene, while nervous administrators are still carrying out the administrative equivalent of book burning. (Man, is it a mixed-up world we live in.)

According to MSN News, this past year, the ALA reports 464 challenges, a 25 percent jump since the year before because they'd opened up a forum for Internet complaints. And some books from previous years have fallen off the Top 10 list, such as the Harry Potter series, The Hunger Games and Twilight.

50 Shades of Grey ranks at #4 of most-frequently-complained-about library books for... well, obvious reasons. (The good news is that SUV-driving moms in need of their fix can always just head over to Barnes and Noble.) Before the list was even officially posted, libraries in Florida and Georgia had removed the book from their shelves, citing "semi-pornographic" and "poorly written" content.

So, you might be asking, what book on Earth could possibly be more blunt and risque than 50 Shades of Grey? Other than a couple literally having sex on top of a book, in public?

Number one on the list is the children's book franchise Captain Underpants. Yes, Captain Underpants. Why?" "Offensive language, unsuited for age group, toilet humor," and, some adults say, a disrespect for authority.

FYI: Other children's literature on the list included YA novels dealing with suicide and one illustrated book for younger kids called And Tango Makes Three, based on the story of two male penguins in the San Francisco Zoo who raise a baby penguin.